Reputed gang leader Ducarme Joseph shot dead, likely targetted

MONIQUE MUISE, THE GAZETTE08.04.2014

Ducarme Joseph, alleged street gang leader.TVA
/ The Gazette

Ducarme JosephPaul Cherry
/ The Gazette

Ducarme JosephPaul Cherry
/ The Gazette

Ducarme Joseph was the apparent target of a fatal shooting outside a store called Flawnego in Old Montreal. Four people were shot and two were killed. Joseph, the store's owner, escaped unharmed.PHIL CARPENTER
/ The Gazette

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MONTREAL — The killing of a once-powerful reputed gang leader over the weekend in the very neighbourhood where his organization was based sends a chilling message to others who may wish to compete for dominance in Montreal’s criminal underground, experts say.

According to former Bloc Québécois MP and noted gang expert Maria Mourani, Ducarme Joseph’s death on Friday in a hail of bullets in St-Michel was likely carefully planned. The killer or killers showed up “on (Joseph’s) territory, almost in his private sphere” to kill him in a “flamboyant” manner, Mourani explained, which is a clear signal that nowhere is safe — even for the most feared of kingpins.

Joseph — also known as Kenny, Ducarmel and King Kenny — cheated death for years as leader of Montreal’s 67s street gang, but his luck ran out on Friday as he was gunned down just around the corner from his mother’s home.

The 46-year-old’s body was discovered lying on the pavement at the intersection of St-Michel Blvd. and Michel-Ange St. around 10:15 p.m. According to Montreal police Constable François Collard, he had been shot multiple times in the upper body and was pronounced dead when paramedics arrived. Photographs taken at the scene showed the body covered in a tarp, leaving only a pair of leather shoes visible.

Adrian Humphreys, author of the Rizzuto crime family biography The Sixth Family, speculated the death may represent a long-delayed retribution for Joseph’s alleged involvement in the brazen 2009 slaying of Nick Rizzuto Jr.

“A few years ago, I was in Montreal speaking with a reliable confidante of Ducarme Joseph,” Humphreys said Sunday. “I asked about the Rizzutos and he blurted out: ‘Everyone thinks Kenny did Nick, but he didn’t. He’s wrongfully accused.’ … It was later confirmed to me by someone close to the Rizzuto’s camp, that there was a firm belief Joseph was involved in Nick’s shooting. Whether it’s true or not, it was what a lot of the Mafia soldiers thought … and that can put a man in significant danger.”

Montreal police have not officially released the identity of the victim.

“All investigative hypotheses are being withheld,” Collard said.

Joseph was previously the target of a shooting at the Flawnego fashion boutique in 2010 that resulted in the deaths of his then-bodyguard, Peter Christopoulos, 27, and store manager Jean Gaston, 60. Joseph used a back exit to escape unharmed, and kept a relatively low profile after again serving time in prison in 2011. Three men, Carey Isaac Regis, Kyle Gabriel and Terrell Lloyd Smith, were convicted of murder in the Flawnego shooting and sentenced in May of this year to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Joseph seemed unconcerned by repeated warnings from police that there were contracts out on his life. Despite his outward confidence, however, he was frequently — if not always — accompanied by a bodyguard. It is unclear if he was alone when he died.

Reportedly the father of at least five children, Joseph’s recorded history of violence dates back to the late 1980s. He was believed to be the main founder of the 67s gang, named after the bus route running through St-Michel, and rose to prominence in criminal circles in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It was widely believed Joseph stepped in to fill the vacuum left during that period by the dismantling of the Hells Angels and imprisonment of alleged Mafia don Vito Rizzuto — who died in December 2013, reportedly from lung cancer.

“When you’re strong, enemies can be kept at bay,” Humphreys said. “But just as the Rizzuto organization found, when there is weakness or opportunity, it is easy for the old enemies to find their courage. So there would be many people who would want Joseph dead, not just mob loyalists.”

Joseph’s violent end was the latest in a string of widely spaced killings linked to Montreal street gangs. In April 2013, after months of relative calm, Harry Mytil, who had been tied to the Bo-Gars gang, was gunned down inside the garage of the Laval home where he was residing. Eight months prior, in early August 2012, Chenier Dupuy, alleged leader of the Bo-Gars, and Dupuy’s business partner, Lamartine Sévère Paul, were both shot dead within hours of each other. The latter was Joseph’s cousin. One hypothesis police explored at the time was that Dupuy may have been purged because he wouldn’t agree to work with his longtime rivals as part of a plan to unite the city’s gangs.

According to Mourani, Joseph’s death on Friday is unlikely to prompt an immediate surge in underground violence. Over time, she explained, he saw his influence fade and began to collect more and more enemies.

“No one from the gang will seek revenge for his death,” Mourani predicted. “It wasn’t an organization that was attacked, but an individual with heavy debts to pay.”

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